>From: cii.webmaster@unesco.org
>Subject: UNESCO Observatory - Newsletter N°9
>
> UNESCO OBSERVATORY ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
> http://www.unesco.org/webworld/observatory
> ----------------------------------------------
> Newsletter - N° 9 - 16 July 1999
> ----------------------------------------------
>
>[16.07.99] U.N. nixes Net tax proposal (CNET)
>The United Nations doesn't endorse any kind of global tax on Internet use to
>finance development aid, the administrator of the U.N.'s Development Program
>(UNDP) said. "UNDP is not engaged now, nor does it plan to engage in the
>future, in any activity to implement or impose such taxation schemes on any
>person or group," UNDP administrator Mark Malloch Brown said in a statement.
>"Neither the United Nations nor UNDP has the mandate or power to create or
>administer any system of global taxation." The statement from Brown, the
>United Nations' third-highest ranking official, was in response to a
>proposal for such a tax in the annual Human Development Report, published
>earlier this week by the UNDP. Brown said the report is an independent
>publication that doesn't necessarily reflect UNDP policy.
>http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,0-39271,00.html?st.ne.140.head
>
>[15.07.99] UN Refutes Internet Taxation Recommendation (Yahoo)
>An apparent United Nations recommendation that world governments levy a tax
>on Internet usage to help developing countries bolster their Internet access
>has drawn a predictably heated response from federal legislators, but UN
>officials told Newsbytes that they did not endorse the recommendation in
>question.Although UN officials concede that the recently published "Human
>Development Report 1999" contains a recommendation that governments
>institute a tax on Internet usage, the United Nations Development Program
>(UNDP), which sponsored the report, does not endorse the report's views.
>http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/150799/technology/931985700-133385.html
...........
>[13.07.99] Internet for human development (WebWorld News)
>Breakthroughs in communication technologies, if directed to meet the needs
>of people, can bring about advances for all of humankind. But according to
>UNDP's Human Development Report 1999, released on Monday, markets can go too
>far and force out the non-market activities that are so vital for human
>development. The report also argues that "the network society is creating
>parallel communication systems: one for those with income and education; the
>other for those without connections, blocked by high barriers of time, cost
>and uncertainty and dependent on outdated information."
>http://www.unesco.org/webworld/highlights/undp_130799.html
.........
>In Focus ---------- Human Development Report 1999
>
>This tenth Human Development Report (HDR) (EN
><http://www.undp.org/hdro/report.html>), consolidates the impressive
>contribution of the human development approach with a well-researched and
>innovative discussion of globalisation and human development…. The report
>argues for new forms of globalisation which are more equitable and
>inclusive, and discusses the changes in governance that are needed to bring
>this about…It proposes among other things to tax the e-mail circulation in
>order to make the use of the Internet more equitable. The report is
>presented in Portable Document Format (PDF) files that can be downloaded
>using the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
>
>Table of contents <http://www.undp.org/hdro/contents.html>
...........
>Cyberspace and the United Nations (by Philippe Queau)
>Management of humanity's global goods such as the high seas, the ozone
>layer, geostationary orbits, the human genome, public domain information or
>also open standards and the Internet TCP/IP protocol, needs to be given a
>more prominent place on the world's political agenda as one of the burning
>issues affecting the global common good or the global 'res publica'.
>Intangible common good must also be taken into consideration in developing a
>strategic framework for global governance. For example, the huge but
>controversial arena of intellectual property should be dealt with, not
>merely from the viewpoints of legal or commercial interests, but also from a
>more ethical and political outlook (analysis of the different sectorial
>interests intervening on the subject, philosophical reflection on the
>fundamental legal principles).
>Continue: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/points_of_views/queau_8.html
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